Maurizio Vrenna

Maurizio Vrenna is an Assistant Professor of Design and the Director of the Design Innovation and Sustainability Center at Wenzhou-Kean University. He holds a Ph.D. in Management, Production, and Design from Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and studied at KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Tsinghua University (China), and Tongji University (China). During his career as a design scholar, practitioner, and inventor, Maurizio developed innovative products and services, working for clients such as Ferrari, Ducati, Alessi, and Juventus. He performs advisory services for Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership on climate change. His research interests are sustainable design, product-service system design, and intangible cultural heritage. He is a board member of AAIIC (Association of Italian Academics in China) and IDA (Italian Design Association), as well as a judge for well-known design prizes, such as the Kapok Design Awards China. In 2021, his Algae Grower project was selected as one of the 150 best innovations to feature in the Global Grad Show, a Dubai-based platform for promoting design innovation. In 2023, the Algae Grower won the first prize for innovation at the China (Wenzhou) Industrial Design Competition and is now featured in a permanent exhibition. Maurizio Vrenna has recently been recognized as one of the few “Friendly Messengers in Poetry and Painting” in the Zhejiang Province for his efforts to enhance the transmission of Chinese culture and promote international cultural exchanges.